Autumn Statement

Soldo | November 2022

Autumn Statement: everything small businesses need to know

Another day; another Chancellor, Prime Minister and budget. Well, an Autumn Statement to be precise. Jeremy Hunt addressed the nation this morning, laying out his plans to stabilise the UK economy, protect public services and prioritise growth in energy, infrastructure and innovation.

Hunt’s Autumn Statement followed a meeting last week alongside new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak where they heard from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Make UK and the Institute of Directors (IoD).

These business groups have been openly sceptical about the Autumn Statement with FSB Chief of External Affairs, Craig Beaumont, predicting “an anti-growth and anti-business set of policies designed to do no more than stop the problems rather than build for the future”.

He urged Hunt to prioritise business growth and provide further support to SMEs while the CBI called for the Autumn Statement to soften the blow that business rates will bring in 2023.

So how did the Chancellor’s speech measure up to the predictions and proposals you’ve seen in the headlines and heard on the grapevine these last few weeks?

In case you missed it, we’ve summarised the Autumn Statement announcements most relevant to small businesses here.

The £85,000 VAT threshold will be maintained until March 2026

Small businesses turning over less than £85,000 per year don’t have to register for VAT, a threshold that’s been frozen since 2017. The upside of this is of course that the smallest businesses pay less tax. The downside, however, is that the threshold might actually encourage (or force) these businesses to stay small.

Head to the Soldo website to read the full article.